The new U.S. Consulate office coming up in Cyberabad will have 54 visa interview windows compared to the 14 windows in the current building at Begumpet thus making visa processing easier and faster, according to Consul General, Joel Reifman.
The new state-of-the-art building likely to be completed within a year will have 1.80 lakh sqft space and will reflect the important relationship the U.S. Government has with Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha - the three States covered by the Consulate in Hyderabad.
The Consul General was speaking after inaugurating the new ‘EducationUSA’ Centre at Y-Axis Foundation and said out of the two lakh Indian students on the U.S.A campuses, majority are from the two Telugu States while overall Indians contribute one-sixth of the total international student population in the U.S.A.. The tie-up with the private entity will help disseminate information on U.S. education professionally.
Mr. Reifman said Covid-19 has been challenging for many students opting to study abroad and many had dropped their plans to go abroad. With the reopening of the U.S. varsities, there is likely to be a surge in visa applicants. “In Hyderabad we are working diligently to provide visa services in a safe and responsible manner. We prioritised student visa appointments and did our best to make sure students arrived at their campuses on time.”
He also said the student visa policy remained constant and “the United States continues to welcome all qualified Indian students to come to study in America.” “U.S. education is a great investment and a great value,” he said.
Advise free of charge
David Kennedy, Minister Counselor, Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi said the new center at Y-Axis in Jubilee Hills will provide U.S. higher educational advising to prospective students free of charge. The partnership of EducationUSA with a private education consulting foundation was the first of its kind, he said and hoped that the information would reach a large number of young women and men interested in studying in the United States.
The U.S. Embassy has provided Y-Axis Foundation with expert training so that they are able to apply quality and ethical methodology to their student advising. The five new advisers at the Centre are part of a robust Indian network of eight centres and over 30 advisers across the country.
David Moyer, Public Affairs Officer, US Consulate General, Hyderabad said there is a surge in student visa applicants this year though they did not have exact figures as of now. It is more than the previous years understandably due to the opening up of US campuses after Covid19 restrictions. Y-Axis Foundation founder Xavier Augustin also spoke.
